Buccaneers vs. Colts: Indianapolis Grades, Notes and Quotes
Despite all the injuries, all the early-season losses and all the criticism, what was once considered a lost season for the Indianapolis Colts has quickly turned into something else entirely.
On the shoulders of Matt Hasselbeck’s best performance yet this season—which is saying something as the veteran quarterback is 4-0 as the starter for Indianapolis—the Colts comfortably beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 25-12 to move to 6-5 on the season.
Things started slow against the Bucs, with a pair of long drives stalling and resulting in field goals, which sent the Colts to the locker room trailing 12-6. But a second-half turnaround saw Indianapolis pull ahead in the third quarter and never look back.
Hasselbeck, T.Y. Hilton and Donte Moncrief were the stars on offense, while the defense found a second-half pass rush that has been missing all season as Indianapolis put in a strong performance to win its third consecutive game.
Although the charging Houston Texans destroyed the New Orleans Saints, the Colts remain on top of the AFC South standings and control their own destiny in terms of a playoff berth.
Position Grades for Indianapolis Colts
1 of 7
Quarterback: B+
Another week, another big performance from Matt Hasselbeck. The veteran quarterback winning has become like clockwork for the Indianapolis Colts, with this most recent success improving his record as a starter to 4-0 on the season.
Things started slowly, with a couple of poor red-zone trips hurting Indianapolis, but Hasselbeck was strong throughout and continued his unexpected run to keep the team on top of the division standings.
Running Backs: C-
It was supposed to be a big day for the Indianapolis Colts running backs, with Andrew Luck out and an average run defense to match up against, but neither Frank Gore nor Ahmad Bradshaw had the day he was hoping for.
Even though the running backs didn’t quite receive the number of touches they surely would have liked, neither did great things with his opportunities and the Colts running game largely fell flat for the second straight week.
Wide Receivers: B+
Breaking news for those who are unaware: T.Y. Hilton is a really good football player. The young receiver followed up a poor performance against the Atlanta Falcons with a huge day against the Buccaneers, going for 95 yards and two scores on six receptions.
He wasn’t the only one, though: Donte Moncrief also put up monstrous numbers, picking up 114 receiving yards and a number of key third downs, and even Andre Johnson got in on the action with a big catch. Inconsistency has marred the Colts receivers this season, but Sunday was a perfect picture of what they are capable of on a good day.
Tight Ends: B
Indianapolis has had an odd season when it comes to its tight ends. Despite a crazy amount of talent at the position, both Dwayne Allen and Coby Fleener have been largely irrelevant for most of the season.
Allen was active early, with a couple of big catches on the drives opening game, but was quiet from then on. Neither tight end played poorly; they just didn’t have their numbers called all that often and never had a chance to get going.
Offensive Line: A
It is worth noting that these grades are based on a curve, using comparisons to earlier in the season, and that the Indianapolis Colts offensive line did not play a perfect game.
But while no one would have mistaken them for the Dallas Cowboys on the day, the much-maligned O-line played its best game of the season by a wide margin. Hasselbeck finally had time to throw, even if the run blocking was poor, and rookie Denzelle Good was fantastic in his first career start.
Defensive Line: B-
Outside of a big run in the first half from Doug Martin that was perfectly blocked by the Buccaneers, the Colts defensive line did its job and kept the running back mostly in check throughout.
Pressure on Jameis Winston was inconsistent—non-existent in the first half and outstanding in the second half—but that was largely thanks to an increased presence from the linebackers. Overall it was a good, not great, day for the defensive line in the victory.
Linebackers: B
It was not a good start for the Colts defense. Unable to get off the field on third down in the first half (we’ll get to that later) the linebackers were unable to get any sort of pass rush going in the opening 30 minutes and paid the price with Tampa Bay scoring on all three of its possessions.
But in the second half things drastically turned around, with Indianapolis putting together one of its best pass-rush performances this season. The Colts linebackers showed they are still capable of getting pressure on the quarterback, and not all is lost in that aspect of the game for the AFC South side.
Defensive Backs: C-
Tampa Bay has one of the better receiving duos in the league with Vincent Jackson and Mike Evans, both incredibly talented players. But at this point in the season, that doesn’t even matter much—seemingly anyone could beat the Colts secondary.
Vontae Davis was average throughout and Greg Toler was terrible, while the safeties didn’t contribute much, either. Even in a second half where the pass rush helped alleviate some of the issues, the secondary didn't do much and was largely a disappointment.
Special Teams: A
Since missing his first two kicks of the regular season, Adam Vinatieri is a perfect 16-16 kicking field goals, including a 4-4 performance against the Buccaneers that kept the Colts in the game early.
Pat McAfee is still one of the best punters in the league, and with Vinatieri back to his best, the Colts have arguably the best set of kickers in the NFL. Now if only the kick return game could play up to that level.
Coaching: B-
It's worth noting that Chuck Pagano was 0-2 on challenges on the day, but in the end the Colts did enough to move to 6-5 and stay atop the AFC South, which is all you can ask for from a coaching staff.
Denzelle Good Shines in Regular-Season Debut
2 of 7
There is an anecdote about Tom Brady taking over the New England Patriots starting quarterback job that will go down in the annals of league history. After starter Drew Bledsoe suffered a serious injury on a hit in Week 2 of the 2001 season, Brady took over in relief and, outside of an injury or two of his own, has yet to lose the job more than 14 years later.
Perhaps not quite on that level of relevance to the NFL as a whole, the Indianapolis Colts might have found an answer to one of their biggest problems this season because of an injury to a key starter.
With starting left tackle Anthony Castonzo out for this week, and possibly more, the Colts shifted players around on the offensive line and turned to rookie Denzelle Good out of Mars Hill at right tackle with Joe Reitz shifting to the left side of the line.
The move, made out of necessity, instantly paid dividends for the Colts. The pass protection problems that saw Luck and Hasselbeck get hit so many times were gone against a talented Tampa Bay defensive line.
It was a small sample size and there were some rookie mistakes made, but if Good’s performance is a sign of things to come, then there could be a significant improvement on the offensive line in the near future for Indianapolis.
Third-Down Defense Needs to Find Consistency
3 of 7
Both teams were guilty of this in the opening half, but it seemed like every time the Indianapolis Colts forced Tampa Bay into a third-down situation, at least early, the Buccaneers converted.
Part of that is the receiving corps for Tampa Bay, with Evans and Jackson both particularly adept at picking up first downs, but most of the blame has to fall squarely on Indianapolis’ shoulders.
The pass rush was poor in the opening half before bouncing back after the break—par for the course this season—and Winston was given far too much time to pick out his targets and move the chains.
In a close game, getting off the field is absolutely necessary to winning, but the Colts couldn’t buy a stop against the Buccaneer offense in the first half. Things were much better in the second half, but allowing that many conversions early will be tough to overcome moving ahead.
Overall it was a strong performance from the Colt defense, but the issues on third down need a quick fix, especially if the pass rush can't play like it did in the second half going forward.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Greg Toler Has Another Terrible Day
4 of 7
Last week, a lot of the focus on the Colts' struggles in the secondary shifted to Vontae Davis, who was destroyed by Julio Jones, but it took less than a week for eyes to shift back to Greg Toler as the weak link in a bad secondary.
Davis has been average compared to the standard he has set to this point in the season, but compared to Toler he has been playing at a Hall of Fame level.
Since returning from injury early in the season, Toler has been absolutely abysmal, unable to cover anyone, despite Davis taking the hardest assignment each week, and has been the primary target for opposing quarterbacks.
Against the Buccaneers, nothing changed, with Toler systematically beaten and embarrassed by the talented receiving corps. Giving up the opening touchdown of the game was the lowlight, but definitely not the only time the cornerback lost his receiver.
With players like Mike Adams, Davis and Dwight Lowery in the starting lineup when healthy, Indianapolis has the talent to have a decent secondary, but as long as Toler is on the field that doesn’t look possible. Indianapolis should make a change soon or watch the numbers pile up against its pass defense.
Matt Hasselbeck on His Perfect Record
5 of 7
Matt Hasselbeck has been the MVP of the Colts season so far, no ifs, ands or buts about it. With his fourth win in as many starts, the veteran has kept Indianapolis' hopes for the postseason alive.
Against the Buccaneers he put in his best performance this season, throwing for 315 yards and two scores, but according to Zak Keefer of the Indianapolis Star, he just doesn't want to ruin a good thing:
"Matt Haseelbeck on his 4-0 record this year: "I'm just trying not to screw it up."
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) November 29, 2015"
With each win, Hasselbeck's run becomes more and more improbable. But the Colts are winning because of him, not despite him, and the team owes a lot to the veteran backup this year.
Chuck Pagano on Lack of Running Game
6 of 7
But while Hasselbeck might have had a great day against the Buccaneers, the same cannot be said for the Colts running backs, who were expected to have an increased workload without Luck.
Frank Gore finished with 19 carries for 24 yards and Ahmad Bradshaw left the game with a wrist injury in a largely disappointing outing. After the game, Pagano attributed the lack of success to Tampa Bay's desire to stop the run, according to Mike Berman of IndySportsCentral:
"Pagano: "they were hellbent on not allowing us to run the football."
— Mike Berman (@MikeBermanIndy) November 29, 2015"
Coming off a 74-yard rushing performance against the Falcons, Indianapolis needed a confidence boost in the run game against Tampa Bay but performed well below its usual standards. It will be interesting to see where the Colts running game goes from here.
Matt Hasselbeck on Slow Start
7 of 7
The performance from Hasselbeck and the Colts turned out to be a strong one, but based on the play of the team in the first half, not many would have predicted such a result.
Although the pass rush gets the award for biggest turnaround after halftime, the Colts offense struggled in the opening 30 minutes before flipping the script coming out of the break. A pair of long drives resulted in field goals before Indianapolis turned things around to score 19 points in the second half.
According to Berman, Hasselbeck thought the team had been a little too conservative with its play-calling but turned things around to secure the win:
"Hasselbeck on 1st H when they couldn't finish drives: "We probably just played it too safe. I probably was a little too safe with the ball."
— Mike Berman (@MikeBermanIndy) November 29, 2015"
Slow starts have been the norm for Indianapolis this year, but usually they are coupled with big deficits and desperate comebacks. But the Colts had a chance to execute their game plan in the second half against Tampa Bay despite the wasted opportunities, and it paid off with the big win.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
